Remembering Nicholas Baldwin

Nick was a highly respected motoring author and historian, widely recognised as a leading expert on all types of historic motor vehicles.

After leaving Malvern, Nick got a job in the Land Rover Experimental Department. He remained a committed Land Rover enthusiast and owned many, including a rare Tickford Estate; his final daily driver was one of the last Defenders.

His first job in publishing was selling advertising for ‘The Autocar’ in the 1960s. At the same time, he was writing articles on old lorries for the HCVS which led to a role as a staff journalist for ‘Old Motor’ and later was one of the founders of the transport publishing firm of Marshall, Harris and Baldwin.

Nick wrote 42 books and contributed thousands of articles to numerous automotive magazines. He compiled ‘The Observers Book of Commercial Vehicles’ for many years and was a major contributor to the Beaulieu Encyclopaedia of Motor Cars. For several years he was on the editorial team of ‘The Automobile’.

Nick was Curator of the Stratford Motor Museum and a member of the National Motor Museum Advisory Council for over 40 years, serving a term as chairman. He was also a Trustee of the Michael Sedgwick Memorial Trust and a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers and the Society of Automotive Historians.

Nick amassed a huge archive of road transport-related subjects which is probably the largest of its type in private hands. The quality of its content is such that the Gaydon Motor Museum obtained a Heritage Lottery Grant to acquire the element on cars.

For several years, Nick was a car valuer for Phillips auctions and later for Christie’s, where he was involved in the sale of a Bugatti Royale for £5.5m at a magnificent sale at the Royal Albert Hall.

Nick had many other interests too. He joined the Sherlock Holmes Society and was passionate about classical music, notably Elgar, and was very knowledgeable about food and drink. For a while, he was a Representative for the Campaign for Real Ale in Devon and at one time was a Restaurant Critic for ‘Diesel Car’ magazine. Nick loved animals and nature, starting with the slow worm he had as a boy which went everywhere in the top pocket of his school blazer.

Nick’s final article on vehicle braking systems was completed a week before his death and titled, poignantly, ‘Full Stop’.

He leaves behind his beloved wife Julie.

Nick died on 10th January 2024, aged 78.